Christmas is for Sharing
by Laoness
Summary: On a cold Christmas Eve during Wold War I, Germany and England decided to lay down their weapons, enjoy christmas, exchange presents, have fun and share the love.


_Kalt. Es war eisig kalt. _

_Cold. Is was freezing cold. _

That's what they thought while they were cowering together in the trenches, they had digged in the past 6 months. Both of them.

Arthur looked up at the sky and watched the snow fall down. The sky looked just beautiful and he had to think about the happy times, before all of this disaster started. Despite the cold he felt a bit of warmth inside him, just thinking back. He tried to hold onto that but it vanished again, as he realized where he really was. Namely in a trench, with many other soldiers, fighting against the evil that arose and which eventually led into the first world war.

Arthur sighed and looked at his fellow soldiers, who were sitting around him in the muddy trench. They were of all ages, young and old, and Arthur felt pity for them. Who knows how much time they had left and they had to spend it in this dark and cold trench. Not that they had a choice. When the war broke out all capable men had to sign up and were sent into battle. It was just sad to watch. At least it was to Arthur. Most of them would probably not even make it out alive, unlike him.

It took more than just a few bullets to kill a personification. That wasn't necessarily a good thing. Arthur's life hasn't been exactly the happiest one. A lot of bad things had happened in the many years he represented the United Kingdom and sometimes he even wished, he could have killed himself. But that was against the "rules". Who even made these rules? He sometimes thought. Nonetheless, he had to carry on with all the grief inside him and he just wished he could meet someone with whom he would be happy with. But that would probably never happen. Nobody ever wanted to spend time with him and so he had lived in isolation for many years.

Arthur was ripped out of his thoughts by a young soldier, who was just about to give everyone little packages and letters. That's right! It was Christmas Eve. How could he have forgotten?! He watched his people opening the letters an packages and was happy to see the smile on their faces. He was astonished by what little things could do to men in dark times. Seeing this even made him smile. The young soldier came over to him and sat down next to him. "I'm sorry." he said. "There was nothing addressed to you." He looked rather sad but Arthur just nodded. "That's alright lad." he answered. "I don't need anything. Just seeing you guys get all these things makes me happy." The young soldier smiled and opened his package. Inside was a picture of a young woman and a chocolate bar. Arthur looked at it.

"Who's that?" He asked curious. The young man next to him looked up. "Her name is Rose and when I will hopefully see her again, we'll get married." He said with a soft smile. Arthur smiled too but also felt sadness inside him, because he wasn't so sure if this young fellow next to him would make it.

"That's nice." Arthur said ignoring his sad feelings. "And I'm sure you'll see her again." He said confident and was partly lying to himself. But it made the young man next to him smile. He wanted to say something but they were interrupted by a noise they did not expect to hear in this setting. They heard people sing. More specifically it were the Germans, at the other side of the battlefield. Arthur stood up and looked just above the edge of the trench. Yes, they were really singing Silent Night. Arthur smiled and sat back down. The British soldiers looked at each other and shortly after they also started singing Silent Night. Even Arthur sang along and somehow he was filled with joy and could see his people were too. They had forgotten all the grief, loss and bad things around them for a moment and just enjoyed this Christmas Eve.

After they finished singing the song it was dead quiet. No one said anything and there were no gun shots whatsoever. It was just peacefully silent. Arthur closed his eyes and enjoyed it while he could. And slowly but surely he fell asleep and had the best dream he had in months.

It dawned and the next day was upon them. Ludwig was still sitting at the place he fell asleep yesterday. He also enjoyed the silence after they had finished singing and he would have never thought that it was possible in this kind of situation. Slowly he woke up and felt the freezing cold on his face again. The young soldiers around him were partly already awake but were just sitting there. Obviously they were still enjoying the silence, just as Ludwig did.

Even though Ludwig was quite excited at first about this war, he had now lost his enthusiasm. This is not exactly what he had in mind when the war started. He didn't want for millions of innocent civilians and soldiers to die in a horrible death. But there was nothing he could do about it now. And now he even had to spend christmas on the battlefield. Normally he would sit at home with his brother and just enjoy the warmth of the fire in the fireplace and exchange presents. Luckily not everything was as bad as he thought at first. Although they were not at home, his brother did not forget to send him a small present with a letter and Ludwig sent him a present as well. He was pleased to hear that his brother was doing all right and couldn't wait to see him again.

He took the small box out of his coat pocket and opened it. Inside was a small piece of Lebkuchen, something he loved to eat around this time of year and his brother knew that all too well. Just as he wanted to break off a piece he heard one of the officers shout, that "ein Brite" was coming. Quickly Ludwig put the box inside his coat, grabbed his rifle and stood up, ready to shoot. But what he saw was not what he expected. The young British soldier climbed out of the trench with his hands held up and carrying no rifle. He quickly looked at his fellow soldiers, who were about to shoot.

"Stop!" he yelled before anything went wrong and they looked at him. "He's unarmed!" he said in German. Then he looked again at the British soldier and saw that Arthur meanwhile had climbed out of the trench too. Whatever they were doing, they weren't going to attack them, so Ludwig took a deep breath and climbed out of the trench too. One of his soldiers had the same idea and followed his example.

Carefully both Germans walked over to the Brits and were relived as they didn't hear any gunshots. Meanwhile many other soldiers had climbed out of the trench too and walked towards each other until they met in the middle of the field.

The both young soldiers, who made the first step shock hands and introduced each other. Shortly after the tension was gone, everyone started talking to each other. Ludwig looked around and was somehow happy. He was happy that he wasn't the only one who thought this war was overrated. Then he saw Arthur standing in front of him.

"England…" He started and wanted to continue but Arthur shock his head. "No formalities. You can call me Arthur." he said and smiled. Ludwig smiled too. "In that case you can call me Ludwig, for now." Arthur chuckled. Both of them watched the soldiers around them. They were exchanging whatever they just had on them and despite they spoke two different languages, they seemed to communicate quite well. Both the personifications were really happy, that they at least had this moment to enjoy christmas.

"I never thought that this would be possible." Arthur said astonished and looked at Ludwig. It wasn't the first time they met but he had never seem him from up close and had to admit that he looked quite good. Maybe a little too good for someone, who's supposed to be his enemy. But what was he thinking?! Was he really that desperate for someone? Maybe he was. But it was christmas and that means he could at least have some hope.

"No, me neither." Ludwig said and watched the soldiers talk and have fun. He looked at Arthur and smiled. All this fighting had clouded his judgement of the Brit in front of him. He didn't really seem that bad as he always thought and was actually quite nice. Perhaps he should give him another chance.

"Tell me, Arthur." He started. "What do you think of all this?" He asked and gestured at the happening that was taking place in front of them. Arthur was quite surprised by this question and looked at him. "It's a surprise, that's for sure." he said and smiled. "But I'm actually really enjoying this. Christmas shouldn't be a time of fighting and killing but a time for fun and fellowship." He noticed how he felt that warmth of happiness inside him again and smiled. Ludwig noticed and just couldn't help but to smile too. "You're right. I think so too." He just said and he felt quite peaceful inside.

Meanwhile the soldiers decided to start playing soccer and invited the personifications to join. Of course they couldn't refuse and so they started playing and had the most fun in months. Just for now they could put aside the fact, that they were supposed to shoot and hate each other and just enjoy this time together. After all they weren't that different, right? They were all people, just of two different countries and spoke different languages. And just because of that they had to shoot each other. It was quite sad if you think about it. But none of them could do anything about it.

After the soccer match everyone picked up their belongings and wished each other a merry christmas. Arthur saw Ludwig standing there and he had the need to do just one last thing before they had to get back into the trenches. Just the thought of that made him feel sad again. He wanted to hang onto that warmth of happiness for just a bit longer and so he took a deep breath and walked over to Ludwig.

"I guess it's time to… well, get back to the usual." Ludwig said and Arthur noticed the sad sound in his utterance. But he didn't judge him, because he felt just the same. Ludwig looked at him and suddenly remembered something.

"Arthur, I was wondering if… did you get anything for christmas?" He asked carefully. Arthur looked very surprised at him. "N-no… I… never really get anything." He answered and looked down. Ludwig was shocked to hear this and couldn't just let him walk away without nothing. He took the small box, he got from his brother, out of his coat pocket and sighed. He grabbed Arthur's wrist gently, which made Arthur blush a little but luckily Ludwig didn't notice, and laid the small box into his hand. "Here, take this." He smiled at him. "So you at least have something." Arthur looked surprised at the box in his hand. "But… I don't have anything to give back!" He stated and almost felt guilty but Ludwig just smiled and somehow Arthur blushed again. "That's alright, I want you to have this." He said in a soft and caring voice, Arthur wasn't even aware he had. He put the box into his coat pocket and looked up at Ludwig. Perhaps he could give him something in return after all.

"Ludwig, listen. Before this moment is over, there is one last thing i need to tell you." He started and felt very nervous. Ludwig looked rather curious at him. "What is it?" Arthur blushed again and almost couldn't withstand his beautiful blue eyes. "Can you just imagine for a moment… there was a mistletoe hanging above us?" Arthur asked shy. Ludwig seemed confused and didn't quite understand so he just nodded. "Ehm, sure." Arthur smiled relieved, he leaned up, gently grabbed the collar of his coat and pulled him into a kiss. Ludwig was even more surprised and wasn't even sure of how to react. This was really not what he had expected but he also wasn't against it. He blinked a few times and looked at Arthur, who was still kissing him and so he just decided to kiss him back. He closed his eyes and wrapped his arms around Arthur's waist.

It felt almost magical. It was like that warmth of happiness from Arthur infected him and Ludwig never felt so loved ever before. He pulled Arthur a little closer and enjoyed every second of this wonderful, loving moment. Arthur felt exactly the same way. Never before had someone just given him something and not ask for anything in return. Even though Ludwig was his enemy, he had the feeling that he cared more about him than anyone else. At least in this moment and Arthur was willing to give this a chance, once the war was over.

After he heard some gunshots in the distance Arthur softly broke the kiss but was still very close to Ludwig, who was still holding him. He felt unbelievably warm and happy and just hoped Ludwig wouldn't just punch him in the face. But as Ludwig opened his eyes he just smiled at him and looked happy too. They looked at each other for a few more second before Ludwig let him go.

"Ludwig." Arthur said softly.

"Yes?"

"Can we…. maybe… Give this a chance, once the war is over? I would really like to get to know you better." Arthur smiled and fixed the collar of Ludwig's coat. The German smiled and nodded. "I would like that." He said softly. Arthur was happy to hear that and let him go.

"Merry Christmas, Ludwig."

"Frohe Weihnachten, Arthur."

Then both of them returned to their stations and continued to rage against each other for 4 more years until they finally could meet again, not knowing that it took way longer to finally, really get along.


End file.
